Embodiments of this disclosure relate generally to aircraft systems, and more particularly, to an evaporative system and method for removing gray water from an aircraft floor.
In most commercial aircraft, waste water and material tend to accrue during the flight. The waste water often includes leftover portions of beverages served to the passengers, water from the lavatory, and so forth. One form of waste water is gray water. Gray water is “used” water that drains from drinking water systems, from wash basins during hand washing, material poured down a galley sink, or any other instance in which water is soiled or loaded with waste (e.g., soaps, detergents, soils from hand washing). Gray water does not include contaminants such as toilet waste which is generally referred to as black water.
Most commercial aircraft may be equipped with a gray water system and a waste water system for collecting, storing and ultimately disposing of gray water and black water. For example, in some aircraft, black water is vacuumed away to a waste tank on the aircraft, and gray water is vacuumed away to the same tank or discharged out of the airplane via specially designed and located drain masts made for that purpose.
In the case where the gray water is discharged outside the aircraft, a mast drain extends from a fuselage of the aircraft to eject the gray water from the aircraft. However, the mast drain includes associated plumbing throughout the aircraft and may limit positioning of monuments, such as lavatories, within a cabin of the aircraft. As such, some aircraft may omit the mast drain and collect both grey water and black water in the on-board tank. However, the associated plumbing for channeling the grey water and black water to the tank may be difficult to tap into, depending on the position of the monuments. Accordingly, lavatories on such aircraft generally do not include floor drains.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system and method that overcomes the above.